Sunset
by tiger002
Summary: We had overcome much during our time as elementals, but after a year of peace, we thought that was all in the past. I never thought that the darkest sunset was still to come.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Well, with Out of Time nearly finished (all but the epilogue already written and betaed) I thought it was time to start a new story. That and I've had this idea for a while and have had fun exploring it so far.

The characters and fantasy elements here are owned by DarkElements10, but I have been given permission to use them, and this story takes place about a year after her story Mystic Melody. However, due to the fact that her story isn't over yet, this is a bit of an AU from that. That and I'm changing some of the fantasy elements to fit my idea for the story and to make it a bit easier to keep track of everything. This story does expect that you have some knowledge of the characters, but not of the various stories they have been in, so if you're confused, feel free to ask and I'll explain who everyone is.

Also, thanks to DarkElements10 for not only letting me use the characters, but also helping me to make sure I wrote them in character.

Enjoy…

**Chapter 1: Vision**

When the path before you is darkness,

When the road you traveled is gone,

Where do you go?

Can you flee?

Do you run?

I wish I could tell you.

I wish I could see the ground in front of me.

But I don't, I just keep going, the solid ground echoing with each step all I have left.

I hear their voices, their taunting laughter, and their ridicule.

For a second I think I see Riley's face in front of me, the darkness distorting it, but her eyes shine through, her fire dancing along her black hair. But then she's gone, just like the rest, only an illusion of a lost memory. I hear Sydney's laugh, the darkness turning blue for just a moment, before long that along with the sound is snuffed out, revealing that it too was only an echo of the past.

"Patrick!" I scream, though my voice is horse, I can barely hear a muffle come out of my mouth. "Where are you?" I ask, but this is even quieter.

But then I see it, the darkness fading to a memory, the bleakest moment before me again.

Blood.

Tears.

Hatred.

Darkness consumes him as he loses the will to fight.

He falls to the ground, his body bouncing, the taunting screams all around, cheering as he takes his last breath.

His hand reaches out for a savior too weak to come as his mouth echoes his plea. _'Noah, help_.'

But as I reach out, trying to answer his plea, the darkness invades again, drawing him away.

I don't see him die, but I feel his pain just the same.

Soon I feel the gentle blanket of darkness bring me to the ground, the soft penetrating force drowning me, taking my breath away more with each attempt to move. I feel the constraints around me, bringing me deeper, away from the light, away from the sky with its wind blowing free. I struggle, trying to breath, but the darkness seeps into my lungs, choking me from the inside out.

And then I toss it away, my eyes opening to a world without fear, where the only thing covering me is my blankets, and instead of the complete darkness, light filters in my room from the closed blinds. I take a look at the clock, seeing it's almost noon, and realize I might as well get up, shaking my head, the thoughts and images still filling my vision, and the grasp of darkness still lingers on my skin.

But I sit in bed for a minute, thinking about that nightmare. I don't know; it was just so real, like I really felt Patrick's begging for help, or Sydney's laughter or seeing Riley like that. What if that really happened, what if I couldn't save him in time? Sometimes I wonder if I'm really strong enough to protect them when the time comes.

I try to push the dream aside, this is the first nightmare I've had, and it shouldn't be too strange to have dreams about fighting from time to time, nightmares even. We've nearly lost each other countless times to Core, and more recently to Zhane. Not to mention are other friends who weren't so lucky.

I don't know, that was all a year ago, so you'd think I'd be over it. Things have quieted down, we even finished our "Epic" album since then, so I should be dreaming about music, or girls, or all the places we went on tour.

Not about evil or darkness or death.

Unless…this is the sign of what's to come.

I just don't know.

Things have never been quiet for this long before. Patrick and I have nearly finished high school, Riley and Rhuben have started college, and Sydney is still just as smart as always, learning things after barely the first lesson.

Sometimes I envy that kid.

Upon feeling the sweet covering my body from the nightmare, I decide I might as well get cleaned up, hoping to clear my head of this nightmare. It probably just seems so real since I just woke up with it still being fresh in my memory, thinking about something else and getting on with my day will help. At least I hope so. Hopping out of bed, I grab some towels and clean clothes out of my closet and look at myself in the mirror, noticing that my hair is spiking up all over the place, and seeing how much of a mess I look.

Oh well, time to fix that.

But right as I turn from the mirror, I catch out of the corner of my eye the window in the mirror turning black. Instinctively I spin around, look outside, but I see nothing out of the ordinary.

I tense for a moment, hone in on my powers should I need them.

Even though it's probably nothing. Just my imagination going crazy after that dream.

…

Even after showing, getting dressed, and eating a somewhat nutritious breakfast, I still can't shake the chills from the dream. I have got to be going crazy, after all those years of fighting getting to me, besides, everyone else surely would have sensed something. But Sydney's just sitting on the couch fixing up the Wikipedia page on the Higgs Boson from the article that said it was responsible for 10% of the mass of particles.

Yeah, I didn't get it either, but I think I learned something from listening to him discuss the details of quantum mechanics and how those bosons interacted with the leptons and gluons and croutons. At least I think that's what he said they were called.

Still, if something was going on in the elemental world, Sydney would be the first one to know. With his computer set up as a server to monitor various conditions across the world, we made sure to always be at the ready should another threat come.

And even if Sydney missed something, what I saw looked like it was related to darkness, so Riley or Rhuben would have noticed it too, since they both are attuned to that element. But they've been out in the back yard working on what looks like some songs for our next CD.

"Hey Noah, look what I found now!" Sydney says, and I rush over to him, looking over his shoulder as he brings up a page with so many math equations that it gives me a headache just looking at it.

I stare for a second, waiting for some explanation.

"That's nice," I say uneasily after almost a minute passes. I'm sure the answer is right in front of me, but it looks like someone started pressing random numbers and symbols on the keyboard.

"You don't remember last week when I was helping Professor Chen with the atomic forces and general relativity paper?"

"Oh, so this is what that's from?" I ask trying to feign interest, though I really have no memory of that. Granted, this stuff goes so far over my head I have to wonder if Sydney's speaking English when he gets to going.

"Yeah, we went over the equations to find the inconsistencies in the set of equations, and guess what we found!"

"Um, I think I heal Riley calling for me," I say as I begin walking toward the door. I feel a bit bad, but it's too early in the morning for math induced headaches.

"Oh okay." His face falls for a second, but I see his eyes light up through the reflection on his computer, and with his hands typing furiously once more, I know he's caught up in a world of numbers once more.

To make it look like I actually heard Riley, though I'm pretty sure he knows that was just a lie, I head out back, and feel the heat of the day coat me in a layer of sweet despite the fact that it's not even noon yet. For all its wonders, Australia's heat can sure be a pain. Still, living on the outskirts of Sydney isn't' something I'd trade for the world.

I walk toward the table where Riley has her guitar and Rhuben is tapping her drum sticks on the table trying to get some kind of beat going. I notice several papers strewn along the table, some with lyrics, some with music penned, and some with lots of streaks of red ink, likely from Riley determining something wasn't working. She is quite good at expressing when she doesn't like how something is turning out.

I don't pay it much mind though, it's nothing uncommon to go through a dozen different ideas or versions of a song before finding one we can all agree on. And then there are others which no matter what we try end up in the trash after some hours of trying different things with it.

"Any progress?" I ask taking a seat beside them, though they both look like they've hit a wall.

"Ugh, I just want to throw my guitar through a window," Riley says and from the look on her face, I decide to inch back. I know she wouldn't hurt me on purpose, but it's normally a good idea to give her some distance when's she in a bad mood.

"Yeah, that might give us what we need," Rhuben sneers, though it's obvious she's just as frustrated as Riley.

"Mind if I take a look?" I ask, noticing they were trying to finish up a song I jotted down a couple lines for a few weeks ago.

_Come with us in the land of the night  
>Don't be afraid we'll be your guide.<em>

_Tonight...  
>It's your night to run<br>It's your night to dream  
>It's your night to be all you wanted to be<em>

_As the hours pass, as the sun falls away  
>Look us in the eyes and take our hands*<em>

Far from the best thing I had written, but many songs turn out the way. Some say the songs come out of nowhere, brilliance in them from the beginning, but that's far from the norm.

"We've been trying to find the right chord percussion to hit the chorus right, then figure we can use that to build the rest of the song," Riley explains, as I go over it, trying to place the notes with what was in my head as I wrote that.

"We want to try getting a strong beat going with the end of the chorus too, and that leads into the second verse," Rhuben adds, opening another bottle of water leaning back with her eyes closed

I wish I knew more of the lyrics for the song, it has potential, or at least I think it does, but whenever I go back to add more to it, I can't think of anything that fits. I had hoped that with my sisters working on it, they could come up with some ideas, or at least a good melody to get something further done with it.

But maybe this will be just be one of those songs stuck in limbo forever.

"Maybe we should see if Patrick could give us a hand," Riley suggests, knowing that seemed to be his forte.

"You know where he is, Noah?"

I shrug my shoulders, thinking he's probably still asleep or something, or in the family room. I hadn't seen him all day, but it's not like that's anything too strange. The house is pretty big, and I was too busy thinking about my dream to notice him. I don't recall seeing him when I woke up even though we share the same bedroom, but I might have been too preoccupied to notice even if he was there.

Wait a second…

What if…

Oh no.

Before my sisters can ponder my strange actions, I leap from the table, knocking my chair over in the process, but I just jump over it, running as fast as I can to the back door.

"The hell's up with him?" Riley says as I throw the door open, slam it behind me and take off toward our room.

I know this is ridiculous, jumping to conclusions, probably scaring my whole family in the process.

But if there's even a chance Patrick is in danger, then nothing else matters. I've seen how hesitation can lead to disaster before, how death can take a friend without notice, and I can't let that happen again.

I burst throw open the door to our room, and slam my hand on the light switch, sure to earn some wrath should he be sleeping or wanting to be alone. But as I prepare myself for him yelling at me, I am only greeted with silence and see the room is empty. After seeing this, I run from our room, and scan every room I can, the living room, bathroom, all of our bedrooms, but still nothing. Finally, nearly out of breath, I try the family room in the basement, but as I stumble down the stairs through the dark, and turn the lights on, I notice it is as vacant as the rest.

"What's wrong?" Sydney asks causing me to jump. I turn, not noticing he was behind me, and see Riley and Rhuben just behind him coming down the stairs.

I don't say anything, maybe it's nothing, maybe it's everything. I just don't know, so there's no way I can really explain it.

"Okay, burst through the house, make me spill my drink all over myself and nearly run over Sydney when he tried to talk to you," Rhuben says with her arms crossed. Was I really in so much of a hurry that I didn't notice my own brother? I mean, I know I was in a hurry, but was I that consumed with worry? "Spill it, something's up," she finally says as I sit against the wall.

I wish they'd just go away and leave me alone to let me figure this out. I know they won't though, they deserve an answer, and wont' go away until I get one. "Sorry I didn't see you Sydney; are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he says with a smile that could light up the room, putting me at ease just a bit.

"It was a dream," I say, looking down, sure they're just going to think I'm crazy for acting like this. Heck, even I think I'm crazy. "I saw him dying." The thoughts of Patrick fill my vision again, his pain, his powerlessness, and my own guilt.

But instead of reassuring me that everything is all right, they don't say anything, just look down, waiting for me to continue.

"You too?" Sydney asks looking up at his sisters, and the twins just nod.

"What do you mean?"

"I should have told you guys sooner," Rhuben says, sitting down on the floor, her usual smirk gone, and I can't help but feel my body begin shaking.

"Wait, so this happened to all of you guys?" Riley asks, and it seems we all just nod, and sit in silence, waiting for Rhuben as she opens and closes her mouth several times before finally speaking.

"I don't know when," Rhuben says, "But the elementals in this world can't exist much longer."

"What do you mean," Sydney asks, taking out a pen and some paper (from where I'm not sure), and I hang onto every word that she says. Of course, her element is darkness; I should have known I wouldn't be the first to see something like that.

"It came to tell me. We will fight, but even so, the last shadow will fall upon the elementals."

"What does that mean?" I ask. There has to be hope of some kind, there always has been before. Who is this last shadow anyway? Someone from the elemental world? A dark elemental here?

She just shakes her head, that sarcastic grin coming across her face. "What do you think I mean? We're all going to die."

She then points her finger at me as I think for something to say to counter her despair.

"And you will be the cause."

**A/Ns:**

*****The song lyrics in this chapter were written by me, trying to come up with something that could be in the planning stages for a pop/rock band. Considering music is a pretty big part of the characters' lives, there might be more, but probably not much more.

I was actually a bit surprised by how this chapter turned out. I had a pretty good idea where I wanted it to go at first, but as always, my characters have a habit of taking me by surprise. Though I sometimes wish they'd tell me what was going on.

I've also been trying to write this whole story in first person. I've tried this before, but went back and forth between first and third usually, but will try showing the whole story in first this time.


	2. Chapter 2: Questions

**A/N: **And here's the second chapter of this. Natasha is another character owned by DarkElements10, Zack who is mentioned along with his brother are from the Suite Life series, the fandom in which the elemental story are originally based. I don't think they'll play a major role in this story, but I haven't decided for sure. Thank you once more for Darkelements10 for allowing me to use her characters, and for betaing this chapter. Enjoy

**Chapter 2: Questions**

I stare at Rhuben, waiting for an explanation, some details, or images, or something. I just don't know. It never comes, her cold stare burning a hole into my heart, I try to look away, but can't. I don't want to face her, but I see something, hidden beneath a veil of confusion, a twinge of hate.

Whatever she saw, she believes it to be true.

So, we're all going to die. At least according to her, but I just know things can't be that simple. I clench my fists, trying to think of something, or some way out. I mean, we've been close to dying so many times before, we've had friends fall beside us, we've had family hurt and killed, but we made it through just the same. So how could she be so hopeless?

"What did I do?" I finally ask, though perhaps too harshly as I see her lean back, as if she wants to put some distance between us. I have a right to quester her words though. I'd never hurt any of them, so how could she think I'd be the cause of our deaths?

She closes her eyes, but I can still sense her thoughts racing, her memories blending with visions that I'm sure she'd rather forget.

"I'm sure it's not your fault," Sydney says, optimistic as ever, and I can't help but feel a burden lift as he places his hand on my shoulder. Maybe it's just my hope that he's right, but I cling to it, free of Rhuben's accusation.

"Sorry," Rhuben says, but I can't help but feel she doesn't fully mean it. "I just saw what I saw, that's all. It's probably nothing," she says before getting up and walking down the hall. She takes a quick glance back at me, and I can see she regrets what she says, but turns away before I can say anything. Riley goes after her, but is stopped by Rhuben going into her room and slamming the door behind her.

This doesn't seem to be like her at all. I mean, it seems like whenever something was going wrong, she'd be there for me. There are times when I'd even talk to her instead of Patrick if something was really bugging me. There has to be something she's hiding, maybe something she doesn't want me to know. This is just so confusing.

I hear Riley saying something, her volume somewhere between talking and screaming, but I try tuning it out. I didn't mean for this to happen, to send everyone into panic, but I was scared, I still am. I hold my hands out in front of me and confirm that their shaking.

"What was your dream about?" Sydney asks sitting beside me.

I look to him and see him twiddling his thumbs, a heavy burden placed on him to try to keep us calm through this. He looks up at me and our eyes lock, and I see a calmness in his eyes that assures me I have nothing to hide from him.

"I saw you guys, but there was darkness everywhere. It was really blurry, hard to make out anything, but I was trying to run." I try to hide my fear as I tell him about the dream, but I'm sure he can still sense it, but he doesn't turn from me, instead looking at me, silently urging me to keep going. "But then things finally became clear and I saw Patrick hurt really badly. There was a battle of some kind, and he was calling out to me to help him. But then I saw him die, before the darkness came and drowned me." I shiver thinking of drowning, thoughts of being surrounded by ocean, unable to see the shore among the endless depths, and the hopelessness of trying to get away, get to something to hold onto as the strengths in my arms fail me. I push that away though, his soft works breaking me out of the nightmare.

"That was kind of like mine," he says and I see that our dreams might be more than horrors brought on my too many painful battles. "But I saw you dying because I was too dumb to figure out what he was planning in time."

"Who was planning something?"

"I don't know," he says with a shake of his head. "During the dream, it made sense, but I guess the balance of chemicals in the dream messes with your memory so you don't see things as not making sense."

I sigh, wishing he'd have some kind of clue as to what these dreams meant. If they meant anything of course; we could just be sitting here worrying about nothing.

"What do you think Rhuben saw?" I ask, looking up the stairs.

"I'll talk to her later," Sydney says, and that's probably wise. Whatever she saw must have made her angry at me, so I shouldn't push it. Considering she's the closest to the darkness of any of us, if I can only imagine her nightmare is the worst of all.

But as I sit here thinking, I remember the whole reason I ran down here to begin with.

Patrick.

"Hey Syd, you know where Patrick is?"

"Oh, think I saw him leave a few minutes before you got up."

"Do you know where he went?"

Sydney shakes his head, and I feel my heart sink again. He's probably fine, after all, the others had these dreams before, and nothing bad has happened yet. Still, I want to see him, make sure he's okay.

"He probably just went to get some food or something, I saw him looking in the fridge but couldn't seem to find what he wanted."

That makes sense, and last night Patrick said he was craving a good burger. I guess he decided to just go get it this morning then. It sounds like something he'd do. Patrick would probably think I'm just worrying over nothing if I go look for him. And I'm not really hungry since I just ate, but still, I want to make sure he's okay.

"I want to go make sure nothing has happened," I say, getting up off the floor and heading back up stairs. I slide my feet into my sandals and head out the door. Right as I leave, the hot air greets me again, and I feel what must be a bug hit the back of my leg, but I brush it away, and grab my bike to head into town.

…

After a few minutes of riding, I reach the small city on the outskirts of Sydney. There are a few cars around the streets, but not too crowded considering the time of day, and it being a Saturday. I keep my eyes out for Patrick, but am already pretty sure where I'll find him. After rounding a couple blocks, I reach the local burger stand, and see him and Natasha around a table, her laughing about something he said.

I can't help but smile, Patrick is enjoying this day, perfectly fine, and I see all my fears were for nothing.

"So Zack really did that?" she asked, and I can't help but wonder which story he's telling now.

"Oh, you should have seen the look on his brother's face, red as this bottle of catsup."

"And you had nothing to do with it?" she said with a knowing smile, as I rolled up to them.

"Who me? I would never stoop to such a level over something so trivial."

"For some reason I don't believe that," she says.

"Me neither," I say, rolling up beside them, and they both greet me.

"Sorry dude, if I'd have known you'd want to come I would have woken you up."

"That's fine," I say, brushing off his concern, but I can't help but feel a bit disappointed that Natasha is here. I was really hoping just me and Patrick could talk. But at least he's okay, so I guess we can always talk later. Besides, I haven't seen Natasha much in the past few weeks, so things could be worse.

"So, do you have any plans today Natasha?" Patrick asks, as I slink away to order some food, to make it look like that's the reason I came, and just happened to bump into them here. I can't help but feeling though, that something isn't quite right. The sun is bright, it's a nice hot day, but still, a chill runs up my spine.

I try brushing it off, like there's nothing wrong. Maybe it's just my imagination after all. I hope it is. It's such a great day, and I'd hate to ruin it by being so paranoid. Sometimes though, caution is the best course of action. I just have to keep my eyes out for anything out of the ordinary.

While I step up to the counter to order my food, I catch something in the reflection from one of the napkin containers that seemed off. Like instead of seeing the sun that I could feel on my back, I see a dark reflection as if it was night. I blinked once, trying to not act like an idiot in front of the person who seems to be ready for her lunch break. But I look down, and see the dark reflection still there, and immediately turn to face the sky.

But then I feel it, my body going numb, a sensation of invisible binds light as air wrapping around me, and while I tell my body to move, it refuses to respond. I'm not sure if the binds around me are so strong, or if my nerves aren't able to communicate the message. Though in front of me, I see it, darkness reigning down, the light of the sun no more, and the buildings that adored the street merely seconds ago replace with ruin, a desert beat down by endless winds until nothing human remains.

"Noah," the voice calls out, and I'm brought back to the reality as I know it. I look in front of me and I see Patrick there, his hands in front of my face waving. "Good, you're awake."

"What happened?" I ask, trying to get up, and then I see that am lying on the pavement, a small crowd surrounding us. Well, probably just surrounding me, Patrick just kept the rest of them away.

"You passed out a few minutes ago when you went to order," he says, and I'm at an even greater loss for what I saw. I can still see it clearly, picture the night, and the destruction it held embedded into my memory. "You hit your elbow on the way down apparently trying to catch yourself." I look down and see Patrick had fashioned some kind of bandage with a few napkins, and I can feel the sting from where I fell. I know it won't last long, one good thing about being elementals is that we heal fast.

"Thanks for helping me. How long was I out for?"

"Only about five minutes. Natasha wanted to call an ambulance, but I told her that you weren't feeling well recently and to just give you a little time and you'd be okay," he says and I know what he's trying to do. We have to be careful about letting people know about our powers. Natasha is one of our best friends, but we decided long ago that we'd only tell her when it became necessary, and a trip to the hospital would likely make us stand out as not being like other humans.

"Yeah, I guess I pushed myself too hard," I say, acting uneasy, slowly getting up, though now I felt fine. It would be simple enough to say I had a cold or something, and probably hadn't had enough to drink so I passed out. Something like that would make sense.

"Sorry Natasha, but we need to head back home. I want to make sure he's okay."

"Of course, want me to come with you in case something happens?"

"Nah, I got this, I'll call you if anything happens though."

Patrick helps me over to our bikes sitting at the side of the store, and I try to make each step seem stronger than before. It might not be a good idea for me to be riding a bike when I just fainted, especially if I want to put on an air of sickness, but I'm not walking all the way home. We can just take it easy for a while, get out of sight of the guys here, and then we'll be fine. I don't like lying to Natasha, but really, the truth wouldn't make any sense, it certainly doesn't to me.

So I just go along with the plan, pedaling slowly, Patrick right beside me. "So, what's going on?" he asks quiet enough so that no one else can here.

"I don't know, but something bad is about to happen."

He nods, as if he understands my fear, and I have to wonder if he's had the same experiences.

"Have you seen anything strange involving darkness lately?"

"No," he pauses for a second, deep in thought, as if there was something he had forgotten. "But there was that one time a couple weeks ago."

"What was it?"

"This strange guy walked up to me, and asked if I was an elemental."

"Do we know him?"

"No, I never met him before. I just acted like I didn't know what he was talking about. But he gave me a piece of paper with an address on it, saying that I'd want to come see him soon."

**A/N:**A chapter that the characters actually make my ideas work better? Shocking, I know. Still don't know what's up with Rhuben though…but I guess that will come in time.


	3. Chapter 3: Call of Darkness

**A/N: As always, these are not my characters, but Darkelements10. I was stuck on this chapter for a while, but some of her pictures of her OCs really helped me get some ideas going and find a new direction to take this story.**

**Thanks to Wyntirsno and DarkElements10 for betaing.**

**Chapter 3: Call of Darkness**

Patrick seems to know my next question before I can ask it as he slows down and pulls his bike to the side of the road. He reaches into his pocket, pulls out his wallet, and takes out an old crumpled piece of paper. I quickly grab it, and read over the address.

"482 Sunset Pass," I say, having a decent idea of where that is, maybe about 10 kilometers from here, not that far from Sydney.

"You're not really thinking that we should go there, are you?" Patrick asked. He must have seen the look on my face.

I don't know. I've already seen how strange things seem to be, but still, just going there without any idea what we'd find can't end well. If whoever this was knew that Patrick was an elemental, something we had kept secret for longer than we can remember, then he must be planning something. He could lure us in while our guard was down.

"No," I say, and shove the paper into my pocket, and try not to think about it.

But if there is someone after us, shouldn't we investigate? The others have to know too, and we can't risk doing nothing. Zhane existed in the shadows for far too long, nearly bringing destruction to both the worlds; if we didn't find out about him when we did, the consequences could have been disastrous. And we can't hope that just because there hasn't been a threat in so long that there won't be again. Safety leads to comfort, and that can swiftly lead to tragedy.

I can't help but wonder why now though. Why wait so long? If someone was after us, they would have had plenty of chances, either to try getting rid of us all, or one by one when we were separate. Does the dream have something to do with this strange address too? Maybe, if the darkness is leaking through, there's something going on in the elemental world that we need to be ready for, that the battle against darkness is starting up again. And maybe this guy is here to help, in some way.

But why be so secretive about it? Is it because we won't trust him? What if there is a good reason for not trusting him? Or is this some kind of fishing ploy, someone uncovered the old research about the elementals, and is hoping that he was right in approaching Patrick. There's no way to know if he was the only one targeted for that, it could have been hundreds, thousands even. Maybe they knew that we are Reed's children, decided that there'd be a good chance we'd also have something to do with them.

"We heading back now?" Patrick asks, probably tired of me waiting so long to think. He pedals ahead, and I realize he's probably right. There is something to this, the darkness, the dreams, and this stranger, but now's not the time to start speculating wildly. I'll bring it up with Sydney when we get back, if anyone could figure this thing out it would be him, and between everything we've seen, we might be able to connect this all together.

Patrick and I don't talk much more on the way back home, our minds both going trying to take this all in that we don't spare any thoughts for conversation. We've been afraid of this for a while, though no one said anything. I could still tell, the things not spoken speak as loudly as the things that do.

All the death, all the pain, it couldn't just be over. That wasn't our lives; carefree and normal just isn't us. Sure, we had some happiness for a while, but I should have known that it couldn't last. We all should have known.

"You okay Noah?" Patrick asks, and I try to smile, to tell him yeah, but I can't force myself to say something I don't believe myself.

The images come back to me again, all that desolation, the ashes covering the barren land, but as I concentrate on it more, I can even hear the sound of silence. There wasn't any music from cars going by in the background, no cries of animals, just nothing.

I shake, turning down another street on the way back home. But even as the sunlight hovers overhead, I feel cold, which I know is wrong. It's nearly summer; I should be sweating, not wanting to wrap myself with a thousand blankets. I keep turning around, looking for the darkness that seems to be just out of sight, but I can never see it.

"Noah!" Patrick screams, which causes me to look forward, just in time to see a light pole in front of me. I try yanking on the handlebars in time to turn myself, but it's not soon enough. The wheel slams into it, rotating the bike abruptly and throwing me off of it. I feel myself hit the ground, the earth pounding into my limbs, the world still spinning, and the bike lands hard on my chest.

Before I can process the pain, Patrick is at my side, getting the bike off of me. "You normally aren't that unobservant," Patrick says, scanning my body, slightly panicky, looking for any fresh blood. I just lay there, trying to stop my head from hurting so much, the piercing and burning sensation clouding my vision. I close my eyes for a second, feeling sleepy all of a sudden, and the dizziness finally starts fading like it should.

"Come on Noah, get up," he says. Perhaps there is some worry there, or frustration, or something I can't place. As I try to figure out just what it is, enjoying resting on this cool spring day, thought is forced away by a sudden pressure on my body, something wrapping around me.

I open my eyes to see Patrick right beside me, his eyes gazing right back at me. I notice I'm back on my feet, but he's holding me up. "Can you walk?" he asks.

I nod, sure that I could do something so simple even being so sleepy. I mean, I have before, why should now be any different?

He slowly lets go, allowing my legs enough time to get used to supporting my weight again. "You good?"

I want to say yes, even though my stomach feels like it's doing summersaults, but I take another step forward, wondering when the sky started changing colors like that. I try to get back to the bikes, but I feel Patrick push me away from them.

"We're walking. I'll come back to get these later. It's not far and I don't want you to hurt yourself."

I want to say I'm fine, but I can't find the words. My eyes are set at the street before us, and all the winding curves of the straight road. I try following them, but I keep missing the next step, but even when I fall again, I feel a strong arm around me, keeping me safe. It's one I rest into, let bear the weight as I just follow, unable to do anything else.

…

The door opens and another chill jumps through my body, the pain of the cold making me want to run back, but I can't my legs are so tired and Patrick is holding onto me so tight. Even though the warm feels so soft compared to the cold. My head is killing me, like my brain has gotten too big for the skull and its pounding looking for a way out.

"Guys!" Patrick yells and I glance up at him, seeing the sweat running down his face, his cheeks red for some strange reason, even though I'm shivering.

Riley comes running first, but Sydney and Rhuben aren't far behind her.

"What happened to him?" Riley asks, and I hear similar questions from the others.

"Ah, I don't know," Patrick says, "he passed out while getting his burger, and then crashed his bike on the way home, and I don't know, he can barely walk. I think something's really wrong with him."

Riley places her hand against my forehead, and I lean into it, but she pulls away after a couple seconds. "He's burning up; we need to get him to bed."

Ah, bed sounds nice, so soft and warm, then I can sleep and rest and my head might not explode after all. I start walking to it, Patrick still at my side making sure I don't fall over, but I notice that the house seems to have gotten bigger. It takes several miles for me to finally reach my room, and then what must have been an hour for me to get to the bed. I don't waste any more time than I have to getting under the covers, the cold air of the house almost too much for me to bear. I wrap the blankets around me as tight as I can; doing everything I can to keep the cold out. I almost put my head under the covers, but keep it out, noticing that I'm already having some trouble breathing and hate how that makes me feel like I'm drowning.

"What do you think caused it?" Riley asks in the hallway.

"I don't know," Patrick replies, his voice rising like it does when he's frustrated.

What is causing this though? I haven't been sick like this for a while, and I felt fine when I got up. Normally if I'm coming down with something I can feel it coming for a few days at least, and it never gets this bad this quickly. But my head just hurts so much. Maybe when I fell, I hit it and have a concussion or something. That could make sense.

"Do you think I caused this?" Rhuben asks.

I think back to earlier as best I can, what she said. But no, that wasn't like her, she didn't mean it, I'm sure. But now, what if, somehow…I don't know, it's just so warm here.

"No, it can't be your fault."

"But what if it is?"

As the hushed conversation continued out there, I see Sydney walk into the room, his eyes wide with worry.

"What hurts?" he asks sweetly.

"My head and my stomach," I say, wishing that I hadn't had anything to eat, sure that at any moment it will be coming back. "This sucks."

"Does your nose or throat hurt any?"

I shake my head, grateful for that at least, but in the midst of everything else, I don't dwell on it for long.

"And did you feel sick at all this morning?"

"No, it just hit me on the way back," I say, fighting off the pain in my head as I do so.

"Huh?" he says tilting, and for what might be the first time in my life, he seems thoroughly confused.

"What's wrong?"

"Just get some rest, then I'm sure you'll feel better," he says with a smile placing his hand on my head before he leaves the room.


	4. Chapter 4: Jayden

**A/N:**Sorry for taking so long for this, I thought I had an idea where this story was going, but then got other ideas, and had to decide which of two directions this story should go. That and I hit a major case of writers block recently. Oh well, I'll keep writing, just not as fast as I'd like.

Jayden who is introduced here is my character, but Noah and the rest of the characters are DarkElements10's characters as always who was kind enough to beta. Enjoy…

**Chapter 4: **Jayden

I hear them talking but I can't force myself to listen. In the hallway Riley and Rhuben were mentioning something about some dreams, Patrick was going out to the store to get something for Sydney but I can't figure out what. It's strange, it's like I'm under water, and their voices keet getting more and more distance. I try opening my eyes, to glance in their direction, but the tiredness is just too much. I can barely move my fingers. I barely force my eyes open, looking out to the hallway, but my vision is just so blurry.

Sydney says something and runs to me, but I can't make out any of his words.

"What happened?" a voice asks clearly, though I don't recognize it, nor see any mouths moving. I try to respond, but my voice is far too raspy, my throat feeling scorched so no words come out. I want to try answering, asking, something, but the weight that feels like it's smashing on me from all directions. I try struggling against it, but it's as if these blankets are made of cement weighing me down.

"What's wrong Noah?" Riley asks, rushing in the room, but like before her voice is hard to make out. If she was standing any more than five feet in front of me, I probably couldn't have heard it. She tries to uncover me, but as she does so it gets harder and harder to breath. Like there is water, like I'm drowning. I try sitting up, but as I move only an inch or so off the ground, my head beings throbbing and I fall back down to the pillows below.

"He's coming back," the clear voice says again as my vision fades further. Darkness falls around me. I still see Riley, reaching out, but she gets farther and farther away.

"We're losing him," the voice says and I'm back in the room, where everything seems to be normal. I can see clearly, Riley Rhuben and Sydney are at my side, but I still feel something, like I'm not just here, that a part of me is somewhere else. It's strange, like nothing I've felt before.

I glance around the room, worried eyes gazing down at me. "What's wrong with me?" I ask faintly.

"I'm not sure if he's sick," Sydney says.

"What do you mean?" Rhuben asks.

"Can you feel it, there's some kind of elemental energy around us."

I try focusing like Sydney suggests, and he's right. There is something, very faint, and being pulled away, but I can't sense where it's being pulled to. "What is it?" Riley asks.

'I don't know. It's no element I've seen before."

So, that means it's a new elemental. Are they after us? Or is there something else more going on here?

"We're trying again," the unknown voice says.

But I do know it…how could I forget? Jayden.

Wait…who's Jayden?

The room goes blurry again and I shut my eyes, trying to avoid the spinning sensation, but it overwhelms me just the same. It feels like my limbs are being pulled apart; my hands go numb as I try reaching out with them.

I hear Jayden again so clearly, and the room starts coming into view. "Just a little closer Noah, you're almost here."

I gravitate toward him, not quite sure how, but I feel a strange pressure on my head. I open my eyes but there is only darkness. I blink several times thinking that maybe my eyes need time to adjust, but it's no good. I can feel my eyes moving, but there's only darkness around them.

Where am I?

I ask, but my mouth is covered, I squirm, feeling my arms and legs restrained. I have to get out of here, whatever this strange place is. It's overwhelming, suffocating, smothering. But each effort I make is futile, each movement, worthless. I stay still for a second, focusing on the sounds beyond that of my racing heart.

More voices.

Jayden, but he's not alone. He's the closest, that's for sure, and the only one who's name I know. There are guys, a girl or two there, but I'm not sure how many.

"I think it's safe to let him out now," Jayden says.

"But you remember last time," one of the girls says.

What are they talking about? Is it me? Why was I locked up like this; are they afraid of me? Are these the enemy, but if so, who are they? Why don't I remember any of them besides Jayden? And Jayden isn't a bad guy…at least I don't' think he is. Sure, a bit short tempered.

Wait! Why do I know that?

Have I met him before? I think so. Wait, I'm sure of it, I just can't remember it. Just who is he?

"Don't worry; I should be able to handle it if needed."

Handle what? Me? Is he expecting me to fight, to try to get away? If I'm a prisoner of some kind, that would make sense. I'm not going to let them just hold me captive. But if they think they can handle me, are they some kind of elemental too? Or perhaps someone from Wingz Corp or Halo still after me?

What about Patrick…or the rest of them? Have they been captured as well?

"His heart beat is up around 130."

"We can't leave him in there, we have to risk it."

"But Jayden."

"Just do it, but stay back."

I have to calm down. This is bad, it has to be. I don't know what it is either, but I can't let that make me do something stupid. I just need to take things slowly, find out what's going on. If they're going to give me a chance for my freedom, the first thing I have to do is find out where I am, and the quickest way out. If they're going to let me out though, they'll be ready for me. But that's okay. I'll be ready for them. My powers might only be a fraction of what they were before losing SilverTatsu, but that doesn't mean I can't fight.

I feel the restraints leave my arms and legs, and I'm able to move them, but as I try sitting up, I notice a heavy piece of something, metal I would guess, across my chest which holds me down.

"Calm down, Noah," Jayden says, and I do. I gather a small amount of power in my hands, ready to fight if and when the time comes.

"Sir-"

"I know," Jayden says. "Just take things easy here and everything will be fine."

I can't help but wonder where I am, or how I got here. Did they drug me or something, or was this something more. I don't remember being captured, just lying in bed sick, but if I was unconscious, it would make sense for my memory to be off.

Finally, after what seems like days, I feel the rest of the restraints leave my body, and my eyes shoot open, the darkness of the room not much better than before, but there is light flickering from a short distance away.

I sit up and see where I'm at. It looks like a lab of some kind; there are a number of computers sitting around the room, keyboards, monitors, and enough numbers flying by to make Sydney drool for weeks. I don't have time to take much of it in, only a quick glance to let me know what's around. If now is the time to fight, I can't waste any time in hesitation.

I see Jayden standing across from me, glancing at a computer screen for a brief second before coming back to me. I'm not quite sure how I know it's him. Maybe it's because he was the one who seemed to be closest, but it's more than that. His face looks familiar. He's about 16 or so, maybe a little younger than me. The way his blue eyes were set seem familiar, along with his black hair with orange streaks at the end. This has to be Jayden.

"You awake now Noah?" he asks walking over to me, perhaps a bit nervous. So, does that mean he's afraid of me? But as he gets closer, I can feel it. He's an elemental too.

I nod my head, not quite sure what to make of this strange place. I see several people around a corner, like their hiding from me. I can't feel any sort of elemental power from them, so Jayden is the only one here who is. But what are they doing; why did they take me?

"It's a pleasure to meet you." He holds out his hand to shake my hand which I take uneasily. "I am Jayden, your nephew."


	5. Chapter 5: Clouds

**Chapter 5: Clouds**

There are many things that went through my head when Jayden said he was my nephew. I wondered where I was, who his parents were. I also wondered if Patrick tried cooking and gave me food poisoning again. A hallucination would make sense, but there weren't any barking monkeys or spoons dancing on the moon this time.

So maybe this is real. It certainly wouldn't be the strangest things to ever happen to us. But that doesn't answer the question of why.

"I'm guessing you have a few questions."

I nod of course. I have no idea where to even begin with this.

Jayden takes a seat beside me, stares at me with a look showing both hope and dread across his face. I just look at up him silence, wanting to let start explain so I know where to start asking my questions.

He sighs and begins slowly. "I'm sure you can see I'm about your age. In fact I'm sixteen years old. And if you're as smart as the Noah I knew, then you must be pretty sure this is your future."

So…time travel. So, it really is possible. I remember a while back Sydney was working with some professor about the way that Large Hayden Collider could either create another big bang or invent time travel. Or maybe just not work at all.

I never thought it could be possible though. That was the part of science where it was mostly just guesses based on things we couldn't understand. For some people, it was something that fascinated them. As for me, I'd rather wrap my mind around things I could clearly understand. And what about all those paradoxes and ways that it could blow up the world? It gives me a headache just thinking about it.

"How?" I finally ask, figuring it's as good of a place to start as any. This is just so far out of my grasp.

"Sydney and your older self had been working on it for a while. I never understood the details of it, just picked up what I could when I was hanging out with you two. But you, or should I say, the future version of you found a way to expand your power of silver wind to build time. It was just a matter of combining that with the technology we still had from Christian and Core."

"Wait, they were doing research on time-travel?"

"Only exploring the possibility among their many other studies. They figured if the elementals could break other laws of nature, than perhaps the laws of time could be bent as well."

I guess that made sense. We really didn't know how our powers existed. Only that we had them and that we were connected to the elemental world. There are a lot of times where we can only accept what we see in front of us, even if it goes against all the logic we've held all along. "More importantly, I'm sure you're wondering why you're here."

Of course, it wouldn't make any sense to go through whatever means they did to bring me here if it weren't for a good reason.

"Follow me." Jayden begins to walk out of the room, and I get up to follow him. My legs still hurt, and I briefly remember how I was feeling before I came here, where everything was blurry and I was hurting all around. Maybe this was the reason for it though. I push the weariness away and head outside with him, and I see how bad it really is here.

This is just like what I saw when I fainted at the burger stand. Darkness, destruction, spreading out as far as the eye can see. I see a grey outline of the sun in the sky, but it's covered with dark clouds. The land is barren, not a sign of any life. Not a single plant, nor person. I look back to where we came out from, and see it was buried underground for the most part.

The ground is hard, not even sand like the desert. It's almost like those pictures of the moon, with the grey ground spreading out in every direction. This can't be.

"What happened?" I ask though my voice is nearly gone. Seeing this all around, it's like it's tugging at my heart, telling me it's hopeless. I raise my hand to my chest, recognizing this feeling. All of us have darkness within us, something we learned not soon after discovering out powers. It's drawn out by our fear, our hatred and pain. The negative emotions we keep buried away from the world. We've learned to control it, but even so it's there. And sometimes it gets out with horrible consequences.

"You guys thought that the darkness had been banished with Gattaca's death," Jayden says with a deep sigh. "However, his death only disrupted the balance between light and darkness. It tore the elemental world apart. Light ruled for a few years, but soon chaos descended. And this is the overflow of it."

So that wasn't the final battle after all. We thought that after our powers left us when our guardians returned to their world that we were done being elementals. It wasn't until several months later that Sydney and Core found a way to give us a piece of ours back. He didn't say anything, but I had a feeling he thought we might need them again. It wasn't like they were before, but Crystal and my siblings unlocked our powers again. Over time, and with quite a bit of practice, we became proficient in them. We contemplated sharing the news with Zack and Cody and their friends, but after all that they had been through, we wanted them to live normal lives.

Maybe that was a mistake.

"Is there any hope? This darkness seems to fill everything."

"Light is a funny thing. It shines only as brightly as people will let it. It's not that the darkness is so strong, but the light of men is so weak. It's shattered by a few deaths, scared away by a bit of pain. I'm not gonna lie, its hell out there. But we still have light on our side. And as long as our light isn't claimed, we have hope."

I notice several flashes of red in the distance, what appears to be fire shooting out from the ground. "Oh no," Jayden says as he starts running toward the fire.

I want to ask him what's going on, but I only try to catch up with him. I see fire start growing along his body. So, I was right. He's an elemental too. A fire one it looks like. The fire seems almost familiar, kind of like Riley's but instead of the black tint around hers, his has a shade of white to it. It's as if it's pushing back the darkness that seems to permeate the air.

'_Noah'_

I stop in my tracks at hearing my name. I look around quickly, trying to see if anyone else is here. But Jayden is the only one here, and he continues to speed ahead of me.

"Who was that?" I ask quietly, wanting to make sure I don't make Jayden think I'm going crazy. Sure, maybe that's a perfectly natural reaction to being yanked through time, but I'd like to think I'm still sane.

'_It's so good to see you again.'_

I feel her…I can tell from the voice that it's a girl. But the sound seems to be coming from everyone, but mostly from within my own head. It's soft, just louder than a whisper. I feel her presence growing closer, wrapping around me, and the very essence of darkness.

'_Come on; just feel who you are meant to be.'_

The grip grows tighter, and I see the world around me shift. Instead of the grey, the world grows black. I hear the distance cries of pain, of suffering. I see before me the abandoning of hope, of faceless figures fading into nothing.

I feel myself wondering, doubting.

What is it we fight for?

What is it we can accomplish?

Are we so foolish as to think we can stand?

Would it not be better to give up, to save us the pain and struggle?

No!

I won't!

This isn't over.

I bring my hand to my chest, and demand that the darkness leave me. This isn't a battle merely against the darkness of the world. It's a battle against the darkness of my heart. It wants to win, wants to break me. I won't let it. I'm not alone. Jayden is here, even if no one else is. I may be in over my head and scared as hell, but that hasn't stopped me before.

"Get away!" I yell and the dark figure leaves me, her presence now gone. I see the sun still shining, waiting to break this dark night. I then let the power of wind flow through me, and use it to catch up to Jayden. I just hope we aren't too late to whatever it is we're running toward.

…

I see him coming into view in the distance. He's a man with black hair, shooting fire from his hands at some sort of creatures that are descending from the clouds. I run faster, letting the power of wind flow along me to help me to run faster. I can sense a stronger concentration of darkness ahead of us.

As I get closer, I see what terrible creatures they are. They're scorpion like, but flying on wings like metal. They let loose an inhuman roar from all around us. There have to be a hundred here.

"What are they?"

"Xyscons. They a corruption formed in the heart of the elemental realm."

Jayden prepares if fire as we get closer to the other elemental. Some of them land in front of us, blocking our way. They stand about two feet high, and the stinger on their tail is pointed at us. One of them bears its teeth, which also appear metal like. Whatever these creatures are, they're obviously here to kill and destroy.

"Let's get rid of these so we can go help Julius."

…

**A/N: **Well, after losing the first version of the chapter do to my laptop overheating, I rewrote it, and it turned out even better. That tends to happen a lot. Some of you might recognize the Xyscons from my other storeis. They're a fun scary/generic fantasy creature and thought they'd fit well here. As always, thanks to Dark-Elements10 for letting me use her characters and for betaing. See you soon.


	6. Chapter 6: When Light Goes Dark

**A/N:**Those who have read my stories know that my stories have a habit of taking off in directions I'd never expect, especially in the middle of battles. This chapter did just that, and as usual, I really like where this caused the story to go. I was really excited though, I even wrote chapter 7 along with this, so it should be out soon.

Thanks to DarkElements10 for betaing.

**Chapter 6: When Light Goes Dark**

Clouds that would normally indicate a storm or a sunset hover overhead. Normally I'd expect lighting and thunder, but I know it's something far worse. Within them, lie a thousand beating metal wings that were about to fly down at us. I gulp for a moment, my body already shaking in fear. But I'm here for a reason. My family is different, perhaps nearly gone, but some still lived. Some still had hope that this wasn't the end.

I don't know their stories.

I don't know their motivations.

But while the light is fading around us, they still have the fire in their hearts that would not go out.

Their light has yet to be claimed.

And neither has mine.

Jayden gathers fire around him that seems to glow like the light of the sun. It has a white hue to it flickering around him, similar to how Riley's was tinted with darkness. The ground around him seems to shake at his power, quaking in fear. We could do this. Whatever darkness struck us would be chased out by light.

Gathering my own power of silverwind, I prepare to join in his attack. I take several even breaths. I can't lose control now. My attacks must be accurate and sure. I know power. I know what it's like to lose control of power.

They get closer every second, but I wait for them, resisting the impulse to strike as soon as I think I can reach them. Jayden is the first to attack shooting several blasts of fire up in there air. Several of the Xyscons fly at Julius, but Jayden sees them before I can strike. He turns to Julius and sends fire in that direction, destroying several of the creatures covering Julius so he could run over to us.

"Nice to see you again Noah," he says, looking much older than I remember, but I still know him as the Julius we loved so much. His eyes of peace and harmony give me hope. That whatever he had gone through hadn't beaten him. Julius was possibly the strongest of all of us. He had the ability to keep us calm and together when the world wanted to tear us apart. And even though he's lost so much, I can see in his eyes that his resolve is as strong as ever.

Our few attacks weren't enough to beat these Xyscons though, only insignificantly reduce their numbers. It will take more than some happiness and good feelings to overcome this enemy. Some of them landed on the ground and now are starting to charge at us. However, the sound of the wings in the sky makes me look up and see that the far bigger danger is the hundreds of them that are still are descending upon us. The beat of their metal wings is like starting near an airplane as it's about to take off, so much so it's making my body vibrate.

I don't let that stop me though. I focus intently on my powers and shoot up several blasts of wind, cutting one of them in half. I don't let this small victory stop me as I keep firing, trying to keep them at bay making sure my attacks are as focused as possible. However, I see how weak my attacks are against them. Their metal like skin fends off any of my attacks that aren't dead on. Julius tries to keep those on the ground at bay, using his control over the earth to beat them away if they get too close. Unlike most of the elementals, Julius wasn't restricted to just one element, instead he was gifted with many of them. While this was a blessing, it also meant that he didn't have the focus in one which restricted his power somewhat.

Still, I've never seen Julius combine the various elements like this. He pulls up rock from the ground, surrounding one of the Xyscons in it before shooting a concentrated stream of fire in there. In a matter of seconds, the heat causes it to explode, the Xyscons along with it. I gulp, noticing how ruthless and cruel Julius is. Even with the darkness in our own hearts, Julius was one to keep it at bay.

Has that changed?

"I won't let them hurt you Noah," he says with a gentle smile.

No, it hasn't changed. One can be pushed to their limits, forced to embrace the darker side of their souls, but that doesn't mean light has to be gone. He's fighting for those he loves. And even if this isn't the world I know, I'm doing the same.

I jump forward, pushing several of them back with my wind, and Jayden uses this wind to speed up his fire, sending it at the creatures with explosive results. However, it wasn't enough, as more just take their place. Julius is quick to respond as he brings up several shields of earth to block those who got around the explosions.

It doesn't hold them off for long as they quickly fly over it, and leap at us. I slice another one in half while Jayden is trying to blast those he can with fire. However, we seen now how fast these creatures are, able to leap out of the way of our attacks or let them just glance off them. And for every one we kill, another dozen seem to take their place. I use a wider guest of wind to blow a few of them away, but they're right back at us in a matter of seconds.

We back up, trying to put some distance between us and them. Though their speed makes it hard to get away. Even if we ran, they'd be on us in a matter of seconds. What can we do?

Pain suddenly erupts upon my back and I see drops of blood splatter around the ground around me.

I look around, glancing, trying to figure out what just happened. But I can't stop the confusion, the pain that seems to slither all across my body.

"Noah!" Jayden shouts and I feel a strong warmth from behind me, and see the bits of the Xyscon that must have attacked me. I turn to look at it, wondering, not quite sure of what's so strange though. Maybe that's what makes it strange.

I find myself fall to the ground, trying to hold myself up with my hands, but I see the blood that must be dripping from my sides. It's strange, I'd think that landing so hard would cause my hands to hurt. But they don't; I can't even feel my fingers. My breaths are heavy, like there isn't enough oxygen in the air, and I can feel myself getting sleepy.

"What can we do?" Jayden yells.

"Fend these guys off, get him back to the base and hope we have enough of the antidote for him," Julius says, though his voice his broken up, like listening to a CD that had been played way too many times.

Or maybe it's just my hearing.

But I know now that this is poison that's doing it to me.

Can they win though?

"There's so many of them," Jayden says but I feel my eyes closing. I want to get up and fight, but my legs are falling asleep. I fall over onto my side, seeing the flashes of fire and the dozens of the beasts around us. I can't give up though. They aren't. There has to be some way I can help, but I can barely keep my eyes open.

I slowly roll back onto my stomach, push myself up just barely, but feel extremely light headed as a result.

I can't do this.

But I have to.

I turn my eyes up to the sky, and I see them. Countless Xyscons. And what am I? Weak, powerless.

I see her above them. A woman shrouded in darkness. She holds a staff in her hand, that seemed to guide the Xyscons. I feel like I know her. I can hear her thoughts, her commands. It's in a different language, but I can also hear the Xyscons responding to her.

So, she's their leader.

I open my mouth to try to tell them, warn them. But my tongue is dry and my lips barely move. Maybe I can do something to help. Though I was useless to them. That information though, that is key.

But before I can say anything, the pressure on my eyes becomes too much for me. I try keeping them open, keeping my limbs moving, but I can't. I just feel myself getting weaker and weaker.

This can't be the end.

No!

I've been through so much, fought so many. Now's not the time to die. Now is the time to get up, fight, win, and figure out what the hell is going on here.

But I can't.

I'm frozen in place. It's like my body is floating away. The darkness, the sweet darkness.

Its consuming presence welcomes me.

Its warmth blankets me.

It's beauty consumes me.

"Noah's not looking good!"

"No, not again!"

Who are they?

Who's Noah?

Why are they screaming?

It's better just to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7: When Life and Death Curve

**Chapter 7: When Life and Death Curve**

Sleep, rest, death.

Are they the same?

"Noah."

Who's that?

My eyes open and I'm surrounded by lights, by silence, by the emptiness of nothing and everything.

"Noah."

It's that voice again. But it feels like it's coming from inside my head. It's almost like I'm saying it but my mouth isn't moving. Where am I?

What happened?

There was the battle, those Xyscons, Julius and Jayden. There was so much going on. We were trying to fight them off, but one of their attacks hit me, and I think I remember something about poison.

Did that kill me?

Is this what it's like to die?

It just seems, so pointless. If I was really brought through time to help them fight off whatever the evil was what purpose did it serve for me to just die? And what about Patrick and the rest of my family back during my time? Do they know what happened to me? Will they hear about this? What's going to happen to them?

"Calm down Noah, you aren't dead yet?"

I'm not dead. He can read my thoughts?

"No, I can't read your thoughts. I just know what I'd be thinking if I was in your place."

"Who are you?" I ask the nothingness around.

"My name is Noah."

Wait…he is…I am…

I hate time travel.

Why can't my life make sense for once? Is that too much to ask?

"You were pulled through time shortly after I died. If I know Jayden, he was able to use what was left of my spirit to guild you here."

Well, that explains a few things. Though I still don't quite get how I'm not dead if I'm talking to dead people. Maybe I should just stop trying to make sense of things for a little bit. That always seems to work for Patrick.

"Right now though, I need you to lend me your body."

Um….that's not something anyone has asked me before.

"How do I do that?"

"Just don't resist."

Huh?

I do as he says, and this place starts to fade. The light is slowly replaced by the earthy ground I was laying upon before. I can now more clearly feel the pain in the back, but my arms are legs start to move again. At least they aren't numb. I can hear the sounds clear now too, everything is coming back.

However, upon this I see how bad things truly are here. Julius and Jayden are both cut in several places and bledding badly. Nevertheless they are trying as hard as they can to fend off these Xyscons. Hundreds of the creatures lie dead around us. But even then, the skies are still filled with what appears to be thousands more of them.

How long was I out for?

"_Noah, let me handle this,"_Noah says.

This is going to get really confusing…

Even so, I just relax and feel my limbs moving of their own accord. I feel the older Noah inside me, guiding this body. It's like I'm watching a movie, letting the scene unfold in front of me, not willing nor able to do anything to stop it. I just let it flow.

"Jayden, Julius!" he says using my mouth.

Yep, really confusing.

The two of them look up at me/him/us. "How are you standing?" Julius asks beating away one of the Xyscons with a blast of lighting.

"I was able to take over his body," Noah answers using my mouth. "I don't have much time, but if we combine our powers we can fend them off."

"Let's do it then. For one last time," Julius says with a peace around him that would seem make me believe that all the world was living in harmony. His smile always had a way of chasing away my fears

All around me the wind blows, the velocity picking up so much that it nearly lifts me off the ground. This is my power, or what it will be. I can feel the pure exhilaration like when I use it. Only this time it's stronger, more in control. The terrible ferocity of the wind is ready to be let loose, making me want to cower in fear if it wasn't my body controlling it. But it stays within, awaiting the call of its master.

"I'll trap them in a cyclone, channel your fire and lightning into that."

With strength like nothing I had felt before, Noah sends up a massive tornado at them, the sound nearly enough to deafen me. The Xyscons are trapped in it, some try to escape, but the force of the wind is just so strong that instead of blowing them away it sucks them into it. Jayden shoots up the strongest force of fire I had seen from him which seems to light the sky with red. Zack is the only one I'd seen who could channel that much energy at once. It engulfs the tornado, setting every particle in it ablaze. Julius then fires a massive array of lightning up into it, obviously taking advantage of the Xyscons' metal like armor. The electricity crackles as it travels from creature to creature, the sound like a thousand thunderbolts pouring from the mighty cyclone.

It stays in there air for minutes, the Xyscons powerless to resist it's incredible power. Pieces of their body fall all around us, legs, wings, stingers, but never a full Xyscon.

"It's over," Noah says as we take heavy breaths. He sets his hands down and the cyclone fades. I feel his power and presence fading. For such a short time, that was an incredible display of power. The likes of which I had never seen before. Apparently that was everything he still had left to fight with.

"Thanks for saving us," Jayden says.

"It's not over quite yet," he says. I notice he's right. Despite the fact that the enemy had been torn apart, there is still another hovering overhead, watching us. The lady I saw earlier, cloaked in darkness. Whoever she is.

She leaps from whatever she was sitting on and descends rapidly. She slams into the ground, but manages to stay standing as she lands.

"Impressive. I would have never thought you'd be able to destroy my army like that," she says with a voice that seems familiar, though far distorted from whatever it was in the past.

"Who is this?" Jayden asks.

"She was the one who was commanding those things," I say, this time without influence from the older version of me.

"I'm impressed that you could see me then Noah. But I guess your attunement to darkness makes it easier for you to see me."

"Who are you anyway?" Julius yells.

"You can call me the envoy of the dark. I could destroy you all right now, so don't try attacking me. I just wanted to talk to Noah."

"Why me?"

"Because, you still have a chance to join me. Noah, in the future you couldn't see the beauty of the darkness, the serenity that it brings. That is what caused you to fall. You couldn't see that it was who you were meant to be. None of you could. It's too late for them, but not for you Noah."

Be who we were meant to be?

No, I'd never be like that. I'd never be meant to cause all this death and destruction.

"It is you who can't see," the other Noah says through my voice once again.

"Ah, you're actually still here," she says, seemingly genuinely excited. If she is the envoy of darkness that has to be bad, but maybe she isn't pure evil. Maybe….but we know so little about her.

"Sadly not for much longer. But these elementals, and the younger version of myself are strong enough to not be broken by your darkness. Their light will pierce even the hopeless darkness you have brought."

"Awfully confident for someone who's already been killed by my forces."

"Noah, Julius, Jayden," he says through me one again. "Never give up. You guys can still win." I think feel his presence fade from me, his power along with it. The wound from earlier makes itself made known again, but it's not nearly as bad as before. It's hurting, but I can still stand despite it.

"Hope. Sure, have your hope. I'll leave you alone for today. But Noah, think about what I said."

She then fades into the shadows as if she was never there. Why is she so fascinated with me? Am I more susceptible to the darkness then them? Or is there something more?

…

**A/N: You'd think with me writing this the same time as the previous chapter it would be up sooner. Oh well…This past month I've written the first 10 chapters of an original fantasy story. If you're interested in learning more about it, I'd be happy to share it with you.**


	8. Chapter 8: Return

**Chapter 8: Return**

Everything around me seems to be spinning. My feet stumble along the ground, trying to hold me up, but it feels like my balance has been thrown out a window. I stumble over, reaching my right hand out to catch myself avoiding too much of an impact. It's feels as if something was ripped out of my chest, and as the blood drips from my wounds, I can feel the weight of this battle all around me.

"Are you okay Noah?" Jayden asks as he tries to help me up, but as I do so, the vertigo takes hold of me again forcing me to stumble back down. I blink several times, trying to get my eyes to focus and to try to push away the feelings of pain from the injury. Elementals have more endurance than normal people, can withstand injuries easier, but that doesn't mean we can't be hurt.

"We need to get you some medicine for your back," Jayden says. "Noah probably saved your life, but their poison has a nasty habit of being persistent."

I nod, knowing I can't slow them down. If the number of Xyscons we battled was any indication, then they were surely hit some too, maybe not as bad as me, but as I get back to my knees, I can see blood running down Julius' leg confirming my suspision.

"Come on Noah," Julius says bending down and picking me up. He rests me over his shoulder, and I'm brought back to times when we were younger and he'd carry me and Patrick around, sometimes because of the two of us just jumped on him. "You're going to be okay. I won't let them hurt you again."

"Thank you," I say, trying to take even easy breaths to keep myself calm.

"Don't fall asleep on me Noah," he says, "We might have trouble waking up again." I can sense the grim fear in his voice through his gentle tone. Even in a time with so much danger, so much fear he must feel, his gentleness comforts me, forcing me to open my eyes wider, not wanting to let him down. Of course, there's the whole not wanting to die part, but the gentle encouragement he gives me is what truly gives me strength to stay awake.

Jayden goes ahead of us, and I can see some scratches on him from the battle too, but they don't seem as bad as my injuries, though it's hard to tell for sure.

How many battles have they been through?

How much pain have they experienced?

I know in this world I died, but what about the others. They never said for sure, but in a time like this, I know we'd all try staying together. Which could only mean that the others didn't make it.

Looking behind us, I can still see the mountain of fallen Xyscons, their power unlike anything I have seen. Even though they've been defeated, I can still sense the darkness emanating from them, along with that person controlling them. Even though she's gone now, I can feel the remnants of the grip she had on me, trying to control me, manipulate my darkness. I can feel her hand on me though not in any specific place, like a wisp that disappears if I focus on it, but it's still there just the same.

"Almost there Noah."

Turning my attention to the path before us, I can see the house we were at earlier. Or at least what's left of it. At one point, it seemed to be a relatively large building, but had fallen over, some of it reconstructed to provide us with shelter. Though among this endless wasteland, it's truly a miracle it still existed even in this form.

"Where is this place?" I ask.

"Downtown Sydney," he says shaking his head. "Not nearly as nice as it used to be, that's for sure."

It seems so horrible, compared to what it was like earlier today. Well, earlier today for me anyway. How could a whole town just be leveled like this though? Is the rest of the world the same?

Every question I have I can imagine the answer, the despair, the destruction, and it makes me want to be back in bed feeling sick. A sickness a body can recover from, a few days of rest and everything is better. But the dead don't get better so easily. The wounded may never recover. And those left to mourn the loss may never stop crying.

"Is the rest of the world like this?"

"Not this bad, though it certainly isn't pretty. I haven't been far from here since that day, but this was where the explosion of darkness happened, so this is where it was the worst."

"What happened?"

"Save your strength, Noah. I don't want you overexerting yourself. There's still a lot of poison in your system."

"Okay," I say figuring there'd be enough time for questions later.

As we come upon the house, Jayden comes out from it and starts running toward us, with some kind of syringe in his hand. "All right Noah, this anti-venom should stop your body from absorbing any more of the poison."

I nod as he takes of my arm and injects the needle into my bicep. I jerk at the needle piercing the skin, and grit my teeth at the pain of it for a moment. "There might be a bit of pain soon after it starts interacting with your nervous system, but once that takes hold, you won't be any danger of dying."

"All right," I say as the three of us head back into the house.

"Are you guys okay?" one of the girls from earlier asks.

"Yeah, Noah was poisoned by them, but he'll be okay," Jayden said. "Did Brandon get the medical room set up?"

"Yeah, though we're running low on the pain medicine," she says. Looking over at her, I can guess she's a little bit younger than Jayden. She has long blond hair, and it feels like I should know her too, but I can't remember her name."Only enough for a few more doses."

"I hope this Noah has a high pain tolerance then," Jayden says, and at this my eyes light up. This isn't going to be pleasant.

"You want me to take a look at your arm, it looks pretty bad," she says to Jayden.

"Nah, I'll wrap it and be fine. Fortunately neither Julius nor I got hit by their poison."

"Well, be careful though. You might not always be so lucky," she says crossing her arms.

"All right," Jayden says with a soft smile before turning his attention back to Julius. "Can you take care of treating him? I need to check on something."

"Sure. Though your cousin is right. You really shouldn't push yourself too much."

"I know. But if I'm right then we don't have much time to waste."

"What is he talking about?" I ask while Julius carries me down one of the hallways.

"I don't know. Jayden oftentimes goes off on his own trying to solve things. He doesn't want to burden the rest of us with his struggle. Sometimes he doesn't completely trust us either."

"Why not?"

"Sometimes the best of intentions combined with the right knowledge can lead to a disaster."

As strange as that sounds, it made sense. There were times where Patrick, Sydney, and I would come up with a plan and hide it from everyone else, though not because we didn't trust everyone, but that the more people knew about it the harder it would be to get it to work.

We soon approach what looks like a hospital room and Julius sets me down on the bed in there. I see one of those IV things that they put into people's arms to get medicine and nutrients into their system. "This is going to hurt a little bit," he said taking hold of my arm and pricking it with a needle. I grit my teeth again, though this one didn't hurt as bad as the other shot. "There's a sedative in there, so you'll fall asleep pretty soon. Just relax."

I nod, trying to take even breaths while I could feel the energy in my body fading even more. It's strange, I feel calm, possibly even too calm. I feel like I'm drifting away even though I know I'm not really moving. It's almost like I'm floating on a raft in and endless ocean of darkness. I can see with misty eyes into a sky of darkness, just going with wherever the current of the waves push me. I can almost feel the splashes of the dark water come up into the raft, as I descend into a world so cold.

"Do you see?"

Who...what...that voice...

"Noah, wake up, I'm still here."

I know that voice.

I never thought I'd hear it again.

I opened my mouth to speak his name, but I could barely speak, though I had so many questions I wanted to ask him.

Where is this journey taking me now?

"Open your eyes Noah."

My eyes are closed?

I open them, not knowing that my eyes were closed before, and I see the ocean I was sitting upon, the raft falling apart below me. I slowly get up, and see the dark sea, spires of darkness seeming to shoot up in the distant, absorbing any light that might try to get through.

I then turn and see my guardian, SilverTatsu standing there, in his human form though quite a bit older than the last time I saw him. His silver hair has a tint of gray to it, and I can see the weariness of the many battles across his face. Even though he is the same age as the older version of me, he looks so much older.

"Where are we?"

"The element world."

This is nothing like I imagined it. From what we heard about it, it was a bright and vibrant place, filled with all kinds of people and animals. But this, it's completely void of color. I raise my hand in front of my face, and I can't even see the blue veins anymore, it's just another tint of gray.

"Things changed a lot since your time."

I take a step forward and the ground seems to be like paper, so thin, almost as if it's unable to hold my weight. The rockiness of the waves still seems to be around me, keeping me always just a little bit off balance. "It wasn't just my world then," I say.

"No. Perhaps the first, but it wasn't the last to be ravaged by the darkness."

Looking into an old movie, one without color, you know it's not right, but you don't care, you see through the lines of another time, but being in it, being in a world without life, thinking that at any moment it will come back, the magic and light that once filled the place would come rushing back.

But it never does.

I feel so powerless here, like all the hopes and dreams had been surrender in this endless plain of gray.

"How did this..."

"When darkness exists uncontrolled, it seeks only to devourer. Its first target is always the light, but soon it ravishes everything, even itself."

As I fall to the ground, my strength completely gone, SilverTatsu places his hand on my shoulder. "Where did it come from?" I ask, nearly drained of even the desire to know.

He shakes his head. "We don't know exactly. None of us do. It came without a face or a name. It just attacked us, those creatures you fought in your world, and more horrible ones. Sydney learned that they were formed out of the pure energy of darkness, made manifest into physical bodies."

"That girl..."

"The one the darkness calls their Queen," he says, "She came after our world as well. Led them, destroyed us. Until she came, Geneva was able to give us the strength to fight, but after the Queen killed Geneva, we lost all hope. Our strongest warriors fell soon after, and this world that you see rose from the ashes of countless lives."

"Then what do we do now?"

"Surely you know that there is a reason you came here," he says with a slight grin in his voice. I look up at him and see the wisdom this battle has brought him, both a tinge of joy and an ounce of despair filling his green eyes.

He closes his eyes, and falls to his knees. "Noah, it's you...the one who will bring this world to pass."

"What do you mean?" I ask, and I can tell he's having trouble breathing. I get up off the ground, and place my hand on his chest, trying to see if I can figure out what's wrong with him.

"Don't worry about me. My Noah has died, and with it I must go as well, to join the everlasting dark. But you Noah, your light has yet to be claimed..."

Of course, when an elemental dies, so does their guardian. I'd seen it once before, during the battle against Gattaca's soldiers. I remember seeing the guardian fade into the sky into a burst of light. But it doesn't happen with the same with SilverTatsu. No, instead he falls completely to the ground, and it's as if he's absorbed into the ground, the world taking his life away. No body, no big explosions, he just becomes nothing, like he was never there.

Before I can ponder this for long though, I'm swept away, back into the dark ocean, filled with no shadows or life, but the endless expanse, rocking me back and forth wherever it may lead. No longer standing but laying, my face in my raft as if drifts along. Not caring, not knowing, wherever it may lead.

…

"I swear guys, maple syrup combined with katsup and sauerkraut makes a great cold medicine!"

"Patrick, where on earth did you hear about that?"

"From Zack, he said he gave it to his brother and everything worked out perfectly."

"I don't think trusting Zack when it comes to medical advice is a good idea."

"Come on Sydney, it's worth a shot. I'm really worried about Noah."

"Let's try something normal, like chicken soup, or take him to a doctor first."

"You remember what happened last time we went to the doctor, don't you?"

"Yes, but I'm pretty sure Noah won't nearly blast a hole in the wall with lightning."

I still can't believe Patrick did that. After all we told him, he had to freak out over something so small.

Wait...Patrick!

I shoot up from the bed, pushing the sheets off me until I'm sitting up where I'm greeted with an incredibly painful headache that forces me to close my eyes, and makes me feel like I'm going to throw up.

"I told you that you shouldn't be yelling so much," Riley says.

"Hey, he's awake now, that's the important part, right?" Patrick says.

"He needs his rest though," Sydney adds.

"I'm back," I say holding out my hands in front of me, and everything seems normal.

"We wondered if you'd ever wake up," Riley says.

"You really had me worried bro," Patrick says, "I even started to panic a little bit."

To this, Riley rolls her eyes, and I know I'll have to get the story out of her later. But for now, I just enjoy where I am.

I look to the window, and see the sun shining through and it makes me smile. I'm not really sure what happened, but I'm back with my family. And even though my body would much rather sleep; it's sometimes good to be back in the middle of a bright summer's day.

...

**A/N: Remember...a lack of updates does not necisarrily mean a lack of interest. I have some fun plans for the next few chapters...**

**Thanks once again to DarkElements for betaing.**


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